1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to power supplies for complex electronic equipments such as data processing systems, and more particularly to an improved measurement and control method and apparatus for monitoring and controlling a large plurality of diverse power supplies in such a system, utilizing digital techniques and facilities which are inherent to such a data processing system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The monitoring and control prior art is highly developed and contains many examples of systems which scan a multiplicity of test points looking for an out-of-tolerance value and which take some action upon the finding of one, such as the logging of the event, sounding of an alarm, or the like, as may be appropriate to the application.
In some cases automatic, selective test techniques have been applied to data processing system power supplies; one example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3867,618. The prior art also includes teachings such as that set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,014 wherein diverse power supply outputs are normalized before being operated upon for power system feedback control. In spite of this state of prior art, there exists a need for simple, accurate and speedy monitoring and control in the power systems of complex electronic equipments such as data processing systems where, as the technology advances, the semiconductor and other relatively low voltage, low power and delicate circuit devices driven by the power system require very stringent adherence to voltage specifications. Thus, if voltage requirements are exceeded, destruction of these delicate devices is likely to result, and if low voltage occurs, data processing errors and loss of actively stored data may result.